"Are you sure that's him? I mean, it looks like him, but I'm sure a lot of people do…right? What's 537 people out of 16 million?"
ITEM #: SCP-8537
LEVEL-
CONTAINMENT CLASS: NEUTRALIZED - {$sc}
DISRUPTION CLASS: EKHI
Assigned Site
Site-19
Site Director
Dr. Joachim Riker
Research Head
Dr. Barrikada Ulyanova
Assigned MTF
Sigma-76 ("Debate Bros")
ITEM: SCP-8537
LEVEL-
CONTAINMENT
CLASS: NEUTRALIZED - {$sc}
DISRUPTION
CLASS: EKHI
Assigned Site
Site-19
Site Director
Dr. Joachim Riker
Research Head
Dr. Barrikada Ulyanova
Assigned MTF
Sigma-76 ("Debate Bros")
Special Containment Procedures:
All media purporting that George W. Bush's victory in the 2000 US Presidential Election was the result of voter fraud is to be taken down, removed, or otherwise suppressed. The phrases "vote clones", "537 truth", "2000 election hoax", and "Bush did 11/7" have been added to the Webcrawler Priority Flag Database.
If any narrative congruent with SCP-8537 gains traction among the general public, members of Mobile Task Force Sigma-76 ("Debate Bros") are to effectuate the airing and publishing of material intended to ridicule those with a tendency towards conspiratorial belief.
Description:
SCP-8537 is an anomalous event that took place in Florida on the day that ballots were cast for the 2000 US Presidential Election. During this time, at least 537 physically identical anomalous entities (designated SCP-8537-1) were permitted to vote within the state, with all instances casting their vote for Republican candidate George W. Bush.
Florida became the deciding factor in who would win the presidency, with an initial gulf of only several thousand votes across the state. Ultimately, it was determined by the US Supreme Court on December 12th, 2000 that George W. Bush had won Florida by 537 votes, meaning that those cast by SCP-8537-1 instances were what determined his victory over Democratic candidate Al Gore. The method by which these anomalous entities were created remains unknown.
Current knowledge dictates that no similar event has taken place during any other US federal election. Unless contradictory evidence is discovered by the Foundation, SCP-8537 will retain its classification as a neutralized anomaly.
Democratic candidate Al Gore (left), Republican candidate George W. Bush (right)
Discovery
In the days following Election Day, approximately 917 reports of potential voter fraud were submitted to the Election Crimes branch of the US Department of Justice. Once the Foundation became aware that over 600 of these reports were from Florida voters and poll staff alone, the Department of Political Anomalies was charged with determining if there was any evidence of an anomaly causing unusual poll activity.
Poll worker interviews were conducted throughout the state, beginning with the areas where reports were most heavily concentrated and working outward.
Poll Worker Interview - West Palm Beach, FL
Date: 11-10-2000
Time: 08:05 AM
Location: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Interviewer: Agent Bernard Layman (Site-106)
Subject: Lisa Turner, 52
BEGIN LOG
LAYMAN: There have been some concerns that there were suspicious people at the polls earlier this week. Did you happen to notice anything?
SUBJECT: Suspicious people?
LAYMAN: You know, anyone out of place. If you saw anyone that made you go, "What's that guy doing here?" then that's who I'm talking about. [Agent Layman chuckles]
SUBJECT: I guess so? I mean there was one man who showed up outside and took his shirt off, and he had "Gore 4 Prez" across his chest in marker — that was a riot!
LAYMAN: Oh, I'm sure…
SUBJECT: Then there was another guy who showed up later in the day…
LAYMAN: And what did he do?
SUBJECT: That guy was actually acting weird. He kept trying to peek into people's voter booths, and he kept his sunglasses on inside…I don't know, just a weird guy. We told him to stop messing around with people's booths, and then he just cast his ballot and left.
LAYMAN: Gotcha. Can you tell me what he looked like?
SUBJECT: Uh, he was probably middle aged — his hair was either blond or greying, I couldn't tell. Taller guy, not particularly fat or skinny. Had a tie on…hm, I can't remember much else — he looked really familiar, but I doubt I've ever seen him before. Then, there was another guy later that day who looked just like him, but he had a hoodie on and longer hair. Who knows, maybe they were twins?
LAYMAN: Hm. So, I saw you with a sketchbook out earlier when you were waiting to be called in. Is there any chance you could draw these individuals? It would really help our investigation.
SUBJECT: Only if I can use my own pen. [Subject laughs]
END LOG
By the time DoPA researchers determined that George W. Bush's victory was likely the result of anomalous voter fraud, Bush v. Gore had already been decided by the Supreme Court. The O5 Council deliberated, but were ultimately against attempting to intervene, for the sake of national stability and preserving voter confidence.
Despite that, further research was approved in the hopes that additional information would make it possible to prevent anomalous influence on future elections. While direct Foundation involvement was limited by mandate, additional interviews were conducted with Florida voters and polling personnel.
Poll Worker Interview - Tampa, FL
Date: 12-13-2000
Time: 02:50 PM
Location: FBI Field Office
Interviewers: Researcher Barrikada Ulyanova (Site-19), Research Assistant Valerie Hernandez (Site-19)
Subject: Lyndon Raymond, 75
BEGIN LOG
ULYANOVA: You ever notice how a lot of these "weird guys" look a lot like…you know, him?
HERNANDEZ: "Him"? Oh! [Hernandez laughs] Yeah, no way, that would be crazy.
ULYANOVA: No, I'm serious…
[Ulyanova and Hernandez cease conversing as the Subject is ushered into the interview room, the Subject is asked for his personal information before beginning the interview]
ULYANOVA: So, Mr. Raymond, you were a poll worker for this last election, right?
SUBJECT: Yup. Been working the polls since 1964 — I always thought it was pretty neat that the President and I had the same first name. [Subject chuckles] Never had the FBI want to talk to me, though — what's that about?
ULYANOVA: We're investigating some threats that were made in the last few weeks. This has been a really contentious election, and people seem to be pretty…inflamed.
SUBJECT: Oh, don't get me started… Who the hell does that fuc— sorry, damn Supreme Court think they are? It's no surprise that people are acting up!
HERNANDEZ: Right, which is why we're checking with people who were working the polls to see if they saw anyone suspicious that day.
SUBJECT: I didn't see anyone I thought would do something dark-sided or hostile.
HERNANDEZ: Are you sure?
SUBJECT: Well, I'm sure there was nobody there I'd call a threat.
ULYANOVA: Right, but did you see anything else out of the ordinary? Even stuff you'd just say is weird or out of place?
SUBJECT: Oh. You know what, ladies…I don't know if this counts, but I saw three gentlemen that we could've sworn were one guy voting three times! Same eyes, same height — but different hair length, and other little things like that. One man had a beard and another had a mustache. One had a mole on his lip like Marilyn Monroe, believe it or not.
ULYANOVA: And do you remember what he — or, they — looked like?
SUBJECT: Hm, just give me a minute to recall.
HERNANDEZ: Take your time, sir. If there's a lot you can remember, I'd like it if you could sit down with me to provide information for a composite sketch.
END LOG
Approximately 40 artistic representations of likely SCP-8537-1 instances were produced by interviewees, Foundation personnel, and police sketch artists.
Those that best represent SCP-8537-1's approximate appearance have been included below: